Near the beginning of November, I headed out to two very different forms of memorial in Hong Kong. The first, is the military cemetery on Stanley peninsula. This particular cemetery, as well as the Sai Wan war cemetery are quite poignant because they include the resting places of many Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Hong Kong, defending against the Imperial Japanese Army between December 8th – 25th, 1941.

It may come as a surprise to many Canadians that our troops were involved in protecting Hong Kong during World War II. It was something I only found out about once I came here. I can’t recall ever learning about this fact in school.

じつは、香港へ来るまでその歴史を知らなかったです。学校で学ばなかっただと思います。

The second memorial was the newly revitalized Mei Ho House in Sham Shui Po, one of the oldest and poorest areas of Kowloon. In 1953, a blaze ripped through the shanty town that was in this area; the government’s solution was to create Mei Ho House as the first housing estate in Hong Kong.

A couple of friends and I had originally meant this particular Sunday to merely be a day for wandering around, photographing Sham Shui Po. One of the friends I was with had actually grown up in the area so it was great to get an insider’s perspective of what it was like 30-plus years ago. We actually stumbled upon Mei Ho House by accident only because we were planning on walking up the hill behind it to get a good view of the area. The three of us were pleasantly surprised and in the end, impressed with the revitalization. It is now a youth hostel. More than that though, it’s an excellent museum. In the back courtyard, there’s also a “general store” and a fantastic cafe. This is, by far, the best example of a revitalization project I have seen in Hong Kong. I do hope that it won’t be the only one. I highly recommend checking it out. Here’s a map showing its location.